FCC to Send Nationwide Broadband Plan to Congress

The Federal Communications Commission lays out an ambitious agenda for providing nationwide broadband for Americans, including a goal to connect 100 million households to 100-megabits-per-second service within a decade.

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to announce a
nationwide broadband initiative this week to expand coverage in the
United States. On Tuesday, the Commission will deliver to Congress a
National Broadband Plan setting an agenda for connecting all corners of
the nation to a modern broadband infrastructure.
Entitled "Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan," the FCC
found that while broadband access and use have increased over the past
decade, the nation must do much more to connect all individuals and the
economy to broadband's benefits. The Commission found nearly 100
million Americans lack broadband at home today, and 14 million
Americans do not have access to broadband even if they want it. Only 42
percent of people with disabilities use broadband at home, while as few
as five percent of people living on Tribal lands have access.

The Plan's call for action over the next decade includes connecting 100
million households to affordable 100-megabits-per-second service,
securing affordable access in every American community to
ultra-high-speed broadband of at least 1 gigabit per second at anchor
institutions such as schools, hospitals, and military installations,
ensuring that the U.S. is leading the world in mobile innovation by
making 500 megahertz of spectrum newly available for licensed and
unlicensed use and moving adoption rates from roughly 65 percent to
more than 90 percent.

Other goals including bringing affordable broadband to rural
communities, schools, libraries, and vulnerable populations, promoting
competition across the broadband ecosystem through greater
transparency, and removing barriers to entry as well as conducting
market-based analysis with quality data on price, speed, and
availability. Last week, the FCC launched
two digital tools, the Consumer Broadband Test and the Broadband Dead
Zone Report, which allow consumers to test their broadband service and
report areas where broadband is not available.

The Broadband Dead Zone Report enables Americans to submit the street
address location of a broadband "dead zone" where broadband is
unavailable for purchase, while the Consumer Broadband Test measures
broadband quality indicators such as speed and latency, and reports
that information to consumers and the FCC.

"The National Broadband Plan is a 21st century roadmap to spur economic
growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our
citizens, and engage in our democracy," said FCC Chairman Julius
Genachowski. "It's an action plan, and action is necessary to meet the
challenges of global competitiveness, and harness the power of
broadband to help address so many vital national issues."

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.